Monday, July 14, 2008

A Bunch of Hunter Brothers Pictures Found

above – My uncle Doug Hunter some time in his early manhood.

This past weekend I found in a old hardbound collection of comics I found stuck in between the pages a letter addressed to me from a Martha Todd of Orlando, Florida. It was postmarked November 1994. It was opened, apparently I opened it when I received it but sat it aside to read later and somehow got lost in the shuffle of my endless notes and paper trails of genealogy.

I do not remember the letter or the pictures inside at all.

Martha Todd was Martha Hunter. She was the daughter of Arthur and Gwen Westmoreland Hunter. Arthur Riley Hunter ( 1884-1967) was a younger brother to my grandfather Franklin Paris Hunter.

The pictures:

2 Unknown men. I have the least idea who these men are. They are probably related. The man on the right looks like he may be my uncle Stanley Hunter. Is it Johnny?

This is Paris Doug Hunter that looks like it was probably taken in a photo booth. I think in this picture Doug is a teenager.

Doug poses in a suit. Note the dog in the background checking Doug out. On the back it says : “From Douglas Hunter to a lovely little sweet heart, Martha Hunter.” Martha was Doug’s first cousin.

This is a picture of Doug after he rode a motorcycle from Marietta to Oklahoma. I know of a another picture with Doug and his motorcycle in Oklahoma. Which reminds me of another Hunter motorcycle and Oklahoma. I owned a Honda CL350 motorcycle and put it for sale. A man came to look at it and wrote me a check. He explained he had to predate the check for the following Friday, because the money would not be in his checking account until then (payday). I deposited the check the Monday after the requested Friday and it bounced. I went looking for the man at his house on Park Street in Marietta and found out they moved out the day after I sold him the motorbike. I went to see a DA assistant Sam Huff*, who was still new at prosecuting and he told me when I accepted a predated check it was no longer a criminal matter, when I accepted that predated date, I was accepting his credit, so it was a civil matter.

Shoot! On to the next picture.

You may not be able to see this picture very well. It has faded and not all that strong to begin with.On the back of this picture it says “Two great big he-men out in the steel town, Ed – Doug.”

Ed is the one on the left, which is my father. Doug is on the right.

Herbert Hunter. Here my uncle who was a barber, dressed up. Someplace there is a posting about Herbert and his barber shop.

Brothers Jack and Doug Hunter with cousin Martha Hunter in the middle. I would have guessed that was Jack on the left.

Here is another picture of Jack when he was a sailor. He made a career of the Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer. He was at Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese invaded it.

My uncle W.C. Hunter, who his drinking cronies nicknamed “Peanut”. The back says” The One and Only W.C. Hunter.” And that is right, after that they threw away the pattern. He was a WWII casualty that never fully recovered.

above – My uncle Doug Hunter some time in his early manhood.When I first saw this picture I thought it was my uncle Bus Hunter, but on the back it says, “W.A.or W.H. Hunter”. Martha Hunter Todd had a brother named William Allen Hunter (1911-1982), which fits the time frame of the other pictures in this envelope.

*Sam Huff went on to become a well known attorney in Marietta and also the Sam of Sam And Dave's BBQ.

8 Comments:

Johnny said...

Eddie,The picture looks sort of like my Dad I couldn't say for sure. If it was taken before WWII and if it is him then there is a good chance the other person in the picture is Reed Crowder. As I remember my dad telling me that he and Reed were close as friends and they were also first cousins.

Eddie,During WWII, I think maybe in France, the army unit that Reed was in was in close location to the unit my dad was in. When my dad found out they were close by he went out to find Reed. As he got closer to Reed's unit dad said he heard sniper fire. As dad received directions from other soliders as to where Reed was and came closer to his location he noticed that the sniper had shot someone. There were a lot of medics working on the man that was shot. Dad looked down at the man shot and it was Reed. Dad saw his first cousin die.

Johnny,I haven't heard that. Very sad.There are a bunch of pictures of your dad and sisters Tade Tyson Carr, Annie Tyson Crowder, and Evelyn Tyson and your dad is in uniform. Maybe that was a get-together in honor of his cousin, and the others son, brother, and nephew.

Doug is still my favorite of that generation (aside from Stanley of course). He always seemed to be the one wanting to interact with us kids - normally to tease us. I will always remember him saying "John, John, the piper's son, stole pig an away he run" every time he saw me. Haley and I always followed up with "Dougy-wuggy puddin' pie, kissed the girls and made them cry"

J3,I agree with you about Doug being the 2nd favorite kid-rapport of that generation, however, I naturally disagree with your pick for number one. My vote goes to Ed.You are right, Doug had a great kidding rapport with kids. He used to call me "Teedoe" - a famous wrestler of the times... I probably misspelled "Teedoe". He used to always keep me in stitches... he could stretch his face and make goofie looks. He called my sister Bonnie "Bonami" and she even had a t-shirt made with that name on it.One time when I was under six years old a dog chased me from the Clay Homes to Frank and Minnie's house on Manget Street, which was measured to be 9/10ths of a mile away... I remember Doug kidded me about the poor dog wagging his tail off chasing me that far.I remember one time we visited him at his house on Pine Street and he had a full grown hog in a small pen in the back of his house, in a regular tight-quartered neighborhood. He and Lolagene is a good example of opposites attract... the only thing I saw they had in common was a love for little folks.I believe Doug was considered for professional baseball, and I think your grandpaw was too, wasn't he.Johnny: I am still looking for Horace Reed Crowder's picture, which I think is a picture of him in uniform... it may be a few days.